When we started our studies of Japanese, one of the first things we saw was the copula (that is, a word used to link a subject to a predicate) です. This might be a bit hard and even a bit dry (although we will do our best to come across as simple and intuitive), but will be helpful for the entirety of your Japanese studies. Therefore, in this chapter we will also learn about the overall structure and grammar concerning Japanese verbs. As “polite” as the polite form is, once you start getting intimate with your friends, continuously using the polite form may make you sound “みずくさい”, that is, distant, reserved, or even stand-offish.įurthermore, just like we can make adverbs from adjectives, in Japanese we can form other verb conjugations from the plain form, such as the so-called “te form” or “participle”.

Having said that, the plain form is arguably the one Japanese speakers use the most in their daily interactions, given that it is used with family and friends.

As I mentioned, we started with the polite form because for new speakers, it is always smart to err on the side of politeness rather than informality, and also because they are easier to learn due to their regularity. – are the formal present affirmative form of the verb. The plain form of a verb, also called the dictionary form (since it is the one you will find in dictionaries) or basic form, is the informal present affirmative form of the verb. This time we will learn about the plain form of the verbs, rather than the polite ones we have seen so far. In this chapter, though, we will retrace our steps further, studying verb conjugation. Last chapter, we learned about how to form and use adverbs, as well as some basic information about onomatopoeia in Japanese.

What does conjugate mean